Butter with Your Popcorn?
by WhazzupPeeps
Summary: Kelly's boyfriend David buys the Big Wave Theatre from the Kahuna and renovates and expands it, but what happens on opening night when several staff members and a promised hit movie all no-show?
1. Changing of the Guard

**CHAPTER 1 - CHANGING OF THE GUARD  
**

**Howdy folks, and welcome to the first chapter of my first new story (and my first entry of any kind) since March. Unfortunately, I've had to put my other current story, "Too Many Cooks", on hold for the time being due to a creative block I've had to deal with on the third chapter of that story, though I'm hoping to get it done in due time.**

**For now though, this new entry of mine deals with what happens when a certain boyfriend of Kelly's decides to go into business for himself for the first time and what happens along the way, including a few speed bumps. This first chapter flashes back by taking place just a few days after the events of "Grom Fest" on the show, then the later chapters will take place in the present (the "Year Two" period). _Sooo_...  
**

* * *

**LAST SEPTEMBER - ON THE ROAD TO SUNSET BEACH**

A few days after the end of the summer tourist season on Labor Day and the summer staff of Surfer's Paradise Ridgemount Resort had dispersed to go back to their hometowns for the start of the new school year, a teal-colored Trans-Am car was travelling on the Comox Highway between Courtenay and Sunset Beach, heading toward the latter town. The Trans-Am's owner, David Hughes, had business to conduct in Sunset Beach and was on his way to the hotel, where he was to check in and to pick up Lo, daughter of the hotel's owner Mr. Ridgemount, en route to his destination.

In the meantime, David had his iPhone in speaker mode to conduct a hands-free conversation with his girlfriend Kelly as he drove along. "Really, that's what happened in your classroom during the lecture?" he asked as he listened to Kelly tell him about her first week of classes in the Restaurant Management program at Vancouver Island University, in her hometown of Nanaimo.

"Sure did," Kelly replied. "That practical joker thought he'd liven up the lecture by timing that smoke bomb to go off while the instructor talked about the basics of restaurant management. I don't think the instructor was too impressed about the sprinkler system going off in the classroom either, or when the fire department had to respond after someone reported what they thought was a fire and they learned it was just someone's idea of a prank."

"Yeah, I guess not," David said with a chuckle. "So what happened after that?"

"The wise guy in question got bounced from the program when he got found out," Kelly said. "Nobody else in the classroom was too happy about getting soaked by the sprinklers at the time, but I think they'll get over it and have a laugh about it in time. Beyond that, I'm starting to get into the swing of it with the program. Already got my first homework assignment to do and I'm about two-thirds finished right now, then I got to go to work waitressing at the Jazz Café downtown after that."

"Good to hear," David said. "Just give it your best with your homework and you'll get a good mark out of it."

"Thanks, David," Kelly said. "So what about the business you have to do in Sunset Beach? Sounds like it's something really important."

"It is," David explained. "Dad just released my trust fund to me recently and wants me to put it to good use for starting a new business or buying an existing one. After how I did assistant managing at the Plaza Theatre back home, he figures this would be a good time to set out with my own project."

"Wow, nice," Kelly said. "If you're choosing Sunset Beach to launch this new project of yours, it must be something special. So what's it about?"

"Well, I'd rather keep it hush-hush for now," David said. "All I'll say is that the Kahuna's meeting me in town and I'll be talking with him once I get checked into Surfer's Paradise."

"Oh," a somewhat surprised Kelly then remarked when she heard the Kahuna mentioned.

"What? What's 'oh'?" David then wondered.

"Nothing, nothing bad," Kelly said. "But you probably know that Kahuna can be a bit spacey at times if you've talked with him before, right?"

"Sure, I know," David admitted. "But get past that and his occasional flashbacks and he's a decent guy, though. He's also got to be on the ball to be able to work at as many jobs as he does."

"True," Kelly said. "But still, if you're doing business with Kahuna, it might be a good idea to have a mediator along for your meeting. If nothing else, a mediator would help Kahuna keep his mind on track, especially one who knows him well enough."

"Already covered," David said. "I called Lo and told her about my plan and she agreed to help out. She knows Kahuna, and between being her dad's daughter and putting the talent show together a while back, I think she's learned a thing or two about negotiating deals."

"As long as it works out," Kelly said. "Oh, and I'm not working tomorrow night, so see you then?"

"Sure thing," David agreed. "I'm only in Sunset Beach today to meet Kahuna for this deal, so I'll see you for sure tomorrow when I come down to Nanaimo to stay overnight."

"Sweet! Call me when you get to town," a thrilled Kelly said. "Love you."

"Love you right back, Kell," David replied, followed by a small giggle from Kelly at the other end, before they said goodbye and hung up. A few minutes later, David arrived at Surfer's Paradise and pulled his car up by the front entrance, then went inside to check in at the front desk, where Lo was waiting to meet him while Johnny, who had just gone on duty for one of his weekend front desk shifts, helped with the check-in. Right after that, Lo went out to join David in the Trans-Am to head into Sunset Beach to meet with Kahuna.

"Thanks for coming along, Lo," David said as he drove up the boulevard and away from the hotel. "Having you with me to negotiate with Kahuna ought to make things go a little smoother."

"No problem," Lo said while David turned on the iPod connected to his car stereo to play some Cuban jazz tunes on the trip into town. "Kahuna kinda tends to get distracted and go off-track though, so I wouldn't get my hopes up too high."

"Don't worry, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," David said with a grin. Lo, figuring that David likely had an ace or two up his sleeve to play, nodded in agreement and grinned as well.

Soon after, David and Lo arrived in Sunset Beach and stopped at the Big Wave Theatre on Front Street, where Kahuna was waiting for them. "Hey, cool cats, what's shakin'?" Kahuna greeted the twosome as they got out of the Trans-Am. "Nice wheels, BTW."

"Thanks, Kahuna," David said, trading fist bumps with the middle-aged surfing hippie. "Lo filled me in on the sitch with the Big Wave on our way here. So, you know what I want here, right?"

"I dunno, dude," Kahuna said, sounding slightly skeptical as he unlocked one of the front doors to the theatre to let himself, David and Lo inside. "The Big Wave's been one of my pet projects since I bought the place back in 2002. It's almost like a part of my family."

"Sure, I get that," David said while he, Kahuna and Lo toured around the theatre lobby and its snack bar. "I've heard some tales from Lo and her friends about this place. Other than those movies I saw the two times I was here this past summer, I know you usually play surfing movies here, right?"

"You bet, dude," Kahuna admitted proudly. "That's been a trademark of the Big Wave since I first got it."

"_Ooo_-kay," David said, now developing some doubts himself as he, Kahuna and Lo went upstairs to the balcony section to survey the theatre proper. "I also heard you pretty much accept anything of value as currency for admission to a movie here."

"Sure do," Kahuna said. "I'll accept anything that I find useful to me to let the moviegoers in and enjoy the show."

"_Hmm_," David mused while checking out the screen at the front of the auditorium. "Does that include money too?"

"Money?" Kahuna wondered aloud. "What's money, besides being colorful pieces of paper?"

"Whoa, that's not something I'd say around my dad without him going into a twenty-minute lecture about money," Lo quipped.

"_Uhh_...yeah," David said before he, Lo and Kahuna left the balcony and went to the adjacent projection room, where David noticed there was also a collection of about two hundred surfing films catalogued and stored on racks against one wall. "And what about other employees besides yourself?" he then asked Kahuna. "The two times I was here, I noticed both times that you were the only employee I saw on duty here."

"I did have a few other cats workin' here at first when I bought the place," Kahuna said. "But they each quit one by one over time and I never considered replacing them. I've been runnin' the whole show myself these last few years."

"And these movies here along this wall," David then asked. "Is this your entire film collection?"

"Sure is, duderino," Kahuna said. "I've played each of these movies here more than once and added on to the collection whenever a new surfing flick came out. They have a loyal following here."

"Okay," David said after a brief pause, stopping a moment to pick up and look over some memorabilia from the theatre's pre-Big Wave days that was lying near the film projector. "Let me ask you something, Kahuna - when you first bought the theatre and started playing these surf movies, what was the average attendance here per night?"

"'bout a hundred, give or take," Kahuna said after thinking about his answer a moment. "Some nights when a new movie came out here, we'd get a couple hundred or more filling the seats."

"Mm-hmm," David said, nodding his head briefly. "And what's the average attendance here now?"

Kahuna had to think on his answer again. "On a good night," he replied, "I'd say...between ten and twenty."

"Fin also told me about one time when she and Reef came here to see a show," Lo added. "That night, they were the only two people in the theatre to catch the movie."

"Yikes," an astonished David remarked. After another pause and some consideration, he started to say, "Kahuna, I..."

Before David could finish, Lo then jumped in. "Kahuna, I'll give it to you straight," the rich girl said. "Between playing almost nothing but surfing movies here, playing the same collection of movies again and again, running the theatre by yourself and taking anything of use as currency for movie admission instead of money, I'm just surprised this place didn't go out of business long ago."

Kahuna gasped in shock. "Dudette! What're you gettin' at?" he said in astonishment.

"I think what Lo's trying to say," David said, "is that there need to be some changes made around here to save this theatre. If you continue running it as it is now, chances are it _will_ go out of business in due time."

"But dude, surfing movies are what make this place tick!" Kahuna said. "They're to the movie business what surfing is to sports. People enjoy surfing movies like they do surfing itself, man. Think about the rush you get from the top-turns you make to get air off a wave, or carving in the middle of a wave, or surfin' the green room - or even the ultimate rush, big wave surfing. Yeah...big wave surfing...man, those thirty-footers I rode at Mavericks back in the day..."

"Uh, Kahuna?" Lo said, realizing that Kahuna was doing exactly what she thought would happen by straying off-topic. "What about the movies?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Kahuna replied after snapping back to reality. "The movies...what about 'em?"

"That's the point we're trying to make, Kahuna," David said. "By playing the same surfing movies repeatedly in a one-screen theatre over time, you're losing the interest of all but a tiny-but-loyal fan base. Think about all the non-surfing movies made since you bought the theatre that could've played here, but your customers either had to go out of town for them or waited until they came out on DVD to see them. You've missed out on a lot of opportunities with this theatre between then and now."

Kahuna thought for a moment about what David told him. "Wow...heavy, man," he then said.

"And I've also heard talk that the movie studios are planning to phase out releasing movies on film in favor of going digital in a couple of years anyway," David continued, "which means you'd have to replace your projection equipment. You wouldn't be able to play the movies you have in your archive now on a digital projector unless you got digital prints of those movies."

"_Hmm_, interesting," an intrigued Kahuna, who was only vaguely aware of digital cinema, mused.

"The way I see it, it's long overdue to bring the Big Wave Theatre into the 21st century," David stated. "So let's see..." He started writing some figures on a writing pad he had brought along. "How's this for an asking price for the theatre?" he then said, showing Kahuna the number he wrote on the pad - $275,000.

Kahuna's eyes went wide upon seeing David's offer for the theatre. "Whoa, 275,000 clams for the Big Wave?" he exclaimed when he read the pad. "Dude, that much moolah..."

"Not enough?" said David, who wanted the Big Wave but also wanted to make sure Kahuna got a good offer. "Okay, how's 300 grand sound?" On hearing the second offer, a surprised Kahuna's mouth dropped open, but he said nothing.

"_Hmm_," David said with a raised eyebrow. "Okay then, how about $350,000? Sounds to me like a reasonable price to buy a small theatre, don't you think so?"

Kahuna still stood where he was, looking dumbfounded over the increased offer, when Lo whispered something in his ear to bring him back around. "Huh? Oh, right," he said. "So what's in it for me, besides the cash?"

"Well," David said, "I'm going to need someone with experience in running a movie theatre, someone who can manage the place and handle most of the day-to-day operations, and you're the man I got in mind for the job. I'd own the theatre, handle the finances and be in charge of picking what movies to play here, but you can hire the staff and tackle all the other stuff. You'd also have to learn how to operate digital projectors, but that'll be a cinch once you get into the groove."

David's offer to keep him on staff as part of the theatre sale had an appeal to Kahuna, but he had another caveat. "Will we still get to play surfing movies as part of the deal?" he asked.

David thought about it for a moment. "For what I have in mind, I think I can swing it," he said. "So, we have a deal?"

Kahuna heard all he needed to to convince him. "Deal," he said, shaking David's hand to seal the deal while an elated Lo clapped her hands and squealed happily.

"Great, you won't regret this," a pleased David said as he took a chequebook out from an inner pocket of his coat and started writing a cheque for Kahuna. After that, David picked the theatre memorabilia back up and looked it over again. "Interesting stuff you have here, Kahuna," he said while looking at the newspaper clippings of movie listings and articles about the theatre from before Kahuna's purchase. "I see the theatre hasn't always been called the Big Wave."

"You got it, dude," Kahuna said. "It was called the Bijou when it first opened in 1938, then new owners bought it in 1965, made it over and renamed it the Paramount. When I bought the joint back in '02, I changed the name to what it is now, got new seats with cupholders and cut the number of seats in the balcony and on the main floor from 500 to 350 for more legroom."

"Uh-huh," David said as he went over the clippings while listening to Kahuna's history of the Big Wave. "Well, when I'm done with the plans I have for the Big Wave, it's going to be the entertainment showplace of Sunset Beach. Just watch and see."

* * *

**So, how will David's purchase of the Big Wave Theatre tie in to the rest of the story? Read on and find out... Also leading up to that, Fin, Lo and the other girls run into a hangup prior to going to work, thanks to resident troublemaker Sabrina.**

**Comments and reviews are welcome.**


	2. Return of the Sci-Fi Convention

**CHAPTER 2 - RETURN OF THE SCI-FI CONVENTION  
**

**PRESENT DAY - SURFER'S PARADISE STAFF HOUSE**

One morning on the third floor of the staff house at Surfer's Paradise, the designated girls' floor, an alarm clock radio went off on the nightstand between Fin's and Lo's beds in Room 310, the room they shared with Emma. Upon being woken up by the alarm, Fin shut it off and groaned as she stretched out in her bed. "Oh, man, what a night last night," the blonde tomboy said after she yawned, then sat up in bed. "That night surfing sesh we had at the Office then sure left me beat."

"Maybe for you, but it really got me charged up," Emma declared as she hopped out of her bed and also took a stretch. "I feel like going on dawn patrol for a bit before we have to get to work."

"_Hmm_, sounds good to me," Fin agreed as she looked over to the clock radio and saw the time, 7:01. "We don't have to get to work 'til nine anyway, so I'm in."

"_Unnh_, what time is it?" a still-sleepy Lo said as she stirred awake in her bed, then started to check her wristwatch.

"It's 7:01, Lo," Fin confirmed, checking the clock radio again.

"What? That can't be," Lo said while looking at her watch. "My watch says 8:41."

"Say WHAT?! 8:41?!" a shocked Fin said as she went over to Lo's bed to check her friend's watch. "No way! How can it be 8:41 when my clock says 7:01?"

"Did the power go out or something last night while we were asleep?" Emma asked.

"Somehow, I doubt it," Fin said. "But if the time on Lo's watch is the real time, then we're running late! Forget dawn patrol, we gotta go spruce up and get ready for work!" Fin then grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste with the intent of dashing off to brush her teeth in the bathroom, while Lo and Emma also scrambled to get ready by grabbing bath towels and their shampoo bottles.

When Fin reached the door to the girls' room, she turned the doorknob to open it - only to find, when she tried to pull the door open, that it pulled out of Fin's grasp and closed shut on her. She tried opening the door again, but it closed back on her again. "What the...?" a surprised Fin said when she tried to pull the door open a third time and found it was resisting her attempts to open it any further than just a crack.

"What's going on, Fin?" a worried Lo said as she watched her friend try in vain to get the door open.

"I'd sure like to know," Fin answered. "Between the door here and the time difference between your watch and my clock, I think something fishy's goin' on here!"

Fin's suspicions were echoed in Room 311, the room across the hall shared by Kelly and her grom roommates Ash and Bonnie, as Kelly was likewise having trouble opening her room's door after she and her roomies discovered that they had woken up later than they thought. "Come on, open up!" a displeased Kelly snapped as she pulled at the door to no avail. "What's with this door?!"

"I'm startin' to wonder myself," Ash commented. "The alarm clock said 7:01 when we got woke up, but my watch says 8:42 right now. Between that and the door - hey, you don't suppose..."

Right then, Kelly's suspicions kicked in. "SABRINA!" she yelled. "What did you do to the door?! SABRINA!" she yelled again and pounded on the door, this time joined by Ash, while Bonnie could only watch from near her bed. Across the hall, an angry Fin, Emma and Lo, who heard Kelly's yell and immediately figured out what was up, also began yelling "SABRINA!" while pounding on their room door.

Outside both rooms, the girls' suspicions proved right as the mischievous Sabrina, who had broken into both rooms while everyone else had gone night surfing and reset the time on the two rooms' respective alarms, grinned gleefully while watching the results of her handiwork, having tied each end of a rope to each of the doorknobs on the inward-opening room doors and putting the rope taut enough to prevent the doors from opening further than intended, as part of a mean-spirited prank to purposely make the girls late for work. "_Ooohh_ boy, am I good, or what?" the devious and snobby blonde girl said with a giggle, taking pride in the success of her prank before she walked away to head to the hotel, leaving the six trapped girls stuck in their predicament as they continued yelling to be let out.

* * *

Nearly half an hour later, Sabrina was finishing up dusting the message boxes behind the front desk in the hotel lobby and was about to take her cleaning cart elsewhere when she spotted Fin, Lo, Emma, Kelly, Ash and Bonnie marching toward her, all dressed for work but also all wearing angry looks as they stopped in front of her. "Hey girls, what's up?" Sabrina asked, trying to play innocent.

"Your time's up, that's what!" Kelly said tersely to Sabrina. "We know what you did."

"What're you talking about?" Sabrina said, pretending not to know what the girls were mad about.

"You know what I'm talking about," Kelly stated, showing Sabrina the rope she had used to tie to the doorknobs. "You used this to tie our room doors together and keep us from getting out so you'd make us late for work!"

"And you're accusing _me_ of doing it? As _if!_" said Sabrina, who feigned offence at the accusation even though she knew they were on to her about the prank. "How do you know it wasn't one of the boys who did it, huh?"

"We know you pulled pranks on us before, blondie," Ash then spoke up. "You pranked us during grom initiation and several times since then, so don't serve us mud in a bowl and tell us it's chocolate puddin'."

"And I told you I didn't do it, so you can all take what you think and cram it!" Sabrina snapped, setting off an argument between her and the rest of the girls in the lobby, which caught the attention of hotel manager Carter, Johnny's cousin.

"Okay, whoa-whoa-whoa, time out, y'all," Carter said to defuse the quarrel as he approached the group. "Everyone step back and chill out a minute." Turning to Kelly, he then asked, "Everyone here except Sabrina's ten minutes late for work. What happened?"

"Ask Sabrina," Kelly replied. "She made me, Ash, Bonnie, Fin, Lo and Emma all late for work by tying our room doors at the staff house together with a rope so we couldn't open them enough to get out. Thanks to her..."

"Shut up! I did not!" Sabrina interrupted. "Kelly's lying! She's trying to blame me for her and her friends being too lazy to be on time..."

Figuring that Sabrina was lying, Carter cut her off. "Can it, Sabrina, don't interrupt when someone's talking," he told her before allowing Kelly to continue.

"Anyway, thanks to Sabrina," Kelly went on while directing a glare at Sabrina, "we got held up for a few minutes before I tied together some bedsheets and got out of my room by the balcony, then came back up to the third floor to untie the rope and let the rest of us out so we could go freshen up quickly before we came to work. And another reason we ended up late for work is because we woke up later than expected because someone broke into our rooms and tampered with our alarm clocks - and I think Sabrina did it to prank us," she finished, looking to the blonde girl again.

"Hey, shut up! I never..." an indignant Sabrina snapped again, still trying to lie her way out of trouble, but Carter stopped her in mid-sentence.

"Lesson three, don't antagonize your fellow workers if you want to last the summer here, Miss Dunn," Carter told Sabrina. "That's also a strike for you for makin' Kelly and the others late for work with your prank and for breakin' into their rooms to do it. I know the other girls have been reliable and hard-working with their jobs since they started here a while ago, but not only have you done very little work since you started here accordin' to Rosie, you ain't been gettin' along with your roommates at the staff house since you got here, and I even heard you tried bullyin' Bonnie a couple of times." Sabrina did not attempt to deny those incidents that time, but simply glared at the other girls.

"You gotta start shapin' up if you expect to stay employed here the rest of the summer, Sabrina," Carter continued. "If you don't, you'll have to pack up and leave and look for a new job elsewhere 'cause I don't got time for someone who's disruptive with the rest of the staff here. You think you can start to behave and improve your attitude from here on out?"

Sabrina, who was not happy about getting busted for her prank on the girls, rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration. "Okay, whatevs," she said cavalierly.

"There's no 'whatevs' about it, Sabrina," Carter pointed out to her. "I'm serious 'bout this. You're gettin' another chance to prove yourself, so don't waste it."

While Carter had been talking, Emma had noticed some objects hanging from the lobby ceiling, then looked around the lobby and made a discovery. "Uh, Fin," she said as she turned to her friend, "look around you. Is it just me, or..."

Fin also looked around. "Oh, my gosh," she remarked as she recognized model spaceships and life-sized standups of characters from popular science fiction and fantasy movies and TV shows on display all around the lobby. "The sci-fi convention's come back."

For Fin, along with Lo, last year's convention brought back memories of going on their first night surfing session with Reef, Broseph and Johnny, while for Emma, she thought back to being stuck in an elevator with her unrequited crush Ty and two convention guests, a heavyset man in a Klingon costume and a woman dressed as a Vulcan who started making out with each other right after the power went out in the hotel thanks to a short-out in the circuit breaker caused by Reef's attempt to light up the waves with spotlights backfiring. For Kelly, it brought back unwanted memories of going on her blind date with Bummer in town, prior to her first meeting with David.

Sabrina, who watched as several convention guests walked by, including one dressed as a Hobbit, another one in an Imperial Stormtrooper costume, a Borg, a Wookie, a Man in Black, a vampire slayer and several Klingons, tried half-heartedly to stifle her laughter as she saw the guests go by. "Wow, like, what is this, Geeks-R-Us?" she commented in jest.

"Hey, I...I like...science fiction," Bonnie replied quietly, not liking Sabrina's knock against the genre.

"You would, wouldn't you?" Sabrina said snidely to the tall brunette. "That figures. Nerds of a feather and junk, right?"

"You know what, Sabrina?" Fin said next as she stepped up. "I like sci-fi too and _I'm_ not a nerdy type. Know what they say about judging books by their cover?"

"And we saw you go runnin' to check when Reef said he thought he saw Robert Pattinson at the hotel a while back," Ash added, pointing out what happened during Reef's seagull prank on Sabrina as payback for her early bullying of Bonnie during the new groms' first day at the hotel. "So if y'all like him, then you must be into those vampire fantasy movies too, right? Just admit it, y'all know I'm right."

Knowing that Ash had her pegged, Sabrina could do nothing but roll her eyes again. "What-_everrr_", she quipped with a sigh.

"So, Carter," Fin asked as the rest of the girls then went their separate ways to go to work, "are we gonna have to volunteer for working the convention displays again like Bummer made us do last year?"

"Don't worry 'bout that, Fin," Carter reassured her. "I already got other staff on display duty, unless you actually _want_ to help out..."

"It's okay, I'm good," Fin said, politely declining the offer as she thought back to when Bummer made her and the other then-groms, along with Johnny, volunteer to help with the convention in an attempt to prevent them from going out surfing on their time off.

"Well, if you change your mind, let me know," Carter said as he went to the front desk while Fin went off to the hotel beach to start teaching waiting hotel guests (that is, those not at the hotel for the convention) how to surf.

Meanwhile, Sabrina carried on with her dusting around the lobby when she looked toward the front entrance and spotted David, who had arrived in town to attend the convention himself but was not dressed up in a costume like the other guests, coming in. Sabrina became spellbound as she got her first look at David, taken in by his shaggy, moderate-length jet-black hair, handsome features and the teal polo shirt and blue jeans he wore as he carried two suitcases into the lobby.

"Well, hello, salty goodness!" an admiring Sabrina said quietly from a distance, grinning as she watched the tall and well-built David look around the lobby. "I think it's time you and I met." Just as she was about to make her move, however, she saw Kelly coming from her right, sprinting toward David and greeting him. "Oh crap, he's already taken?!" Sabrina said to herself as her grin vanished, feeling chagrined as she watched David greet Kelly warmly with a hug and kiss. _And by the pirate dork, at that?_ she then thought resentfully while commenting on Kelly's work outfit.

"So how's my favorite pirate captain this morning?" David asked Kelly with a grin after they finished kissing.

"Great, now that you're here," Kelly said, pleased about her boyfriend's arrival. "You here for that sci-fi convention they're having this week too?"

"Sure am, but not for the same reason as the other guests," David replied. "I'm here because I'm the point man for one of the key events at the convention on Friday night and that event's taking place off-site."

"Really?" Kelly remarked. "Sounds really special. What's it about and where's it going to be?"

"I thought I'd surprise you about that during your lunch break later on," David said as he and Kelly headed toward the front desk for his check-in. "Remember last September when I told you about that business deal I made with Kahuna?"

"Sure," said Kelly, who was unaware of David's purchase of the Big Wave Theatre back then. "Does it have to do with the convention?"

"Something like that," David said. "But I'll show you when we head out for lunch later. It's something big though, that's all I can tell you for now." When she heard that, it made Kelly all the more eager to know what it was David had to show her as she awaited the arrival of lunch hour.

* * *

**Coming up, Kelly gets to see David's big surprise, plus more in store...**


	3. Goodbye Big Wave, Hello Paramount

**CHAPTER 3 - GOODBYE BIG WAVE, HELLO PARAMOUNT  
**

**After a little over a month, Chapter Three is finally up as Kelly finally gets to see David's surprise, and we also learn why David doesn't think too highly of Reef's cocky personality.**

* * *

Just before noon, Kelly and David were in the Surfer's Paradise lobby near the front entrance as they prepared to head into Sunset Beach for lunch. "If you didn't have to work today, this would be a great day for taking a walk on the waterfront in town," David said while taking a stretch, making a note of the sunny weather outside the doors.

"I really wish I could, but I've only got an hour for lunch," Kelly said. "But I'd love to see that surprise you want to show me before we go eat."

"That's just what I had in mind," David said with a grin, just before he noticed some noise coming from near the front entrance, where he had parked his Trans-Am a few minutes earlier. "Hey, sounds like someone's playing loud music from their car close by," he pointed out.

"Sounds like it to me too," Kelly agreed.

"Maybe I should try talking them into turning it down before guests start complaining about the noise," David said before he and Kelly walked through the entrance doors. As the couple got outside, David looked toward where he had his Trans-Am parked - then realized where the loud music was coming from when he spotted someone familiar inside his car. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me," he remarked as he started toward the car.

Inside the Trans-Am, Trevor was sitting in the driver's seat, fooling around as he listened to loud hard rock music on the car's stereo and sang along while drumming on the steering wheel with his hands, when he heard a knock on the driver's side window. Turning his head to look, Trevor saw David, who gestured at him to roll down the window.

"Turn down the stereo," David told his younger brother, having to yell to make himself heard above the loud music. After Trevor turned the volume down to a low level, David then asked, "Dude, what're you doing in there?"

"Enjoying the tuneage, bro, what else?" Trevor replied. "The stereo's got a great sound."

"Right," an unimpressed David quipped. "Remember the one time when you borrowed my car after you got your driver's licence?"

"Sure, dude," Trevor said. "I took it out for a spin to impress the girls. They really dig the wheels."

"And while you did," David then reminded Trevor, "you put a dent in the rear bumper when you backed into a street lamp, then you got a ticket for speeding shortly after. Thanks to your little escapade, my car insurance went up and I had to get that bumper fixed."

"Hey, I helped pay to fix your car, right?" Trevor pointed out. "Besides, I still came out ahead when three girls asked me for my number after they saw me behind the wheel. Can't blame me for wanting to look good with the girls, can you?"

While Kelly rolled her eyes when she heard what Trevor said, David simply looked flatly at his brother. "And that attitude's exactly why I don't let you borrow my car anymore," he said.

"What? What attitude?" Trevor said, seemingly not getting David's point.

"Not taking full responsibility for your actions and feeling a need to show off to impress girls, that's what," David continued as he then opened the driver's side door. "Now, out. Kelly and I have to go to town for lunch and we're already running late."

"Fine, whatever," Trevor said nonchalantly as he started to get out of the Trans-Am, but paused when David cleared his throat to get his younger sibling's attention. "Forgetting something, Trev?" David said.

"What now?" Trevor groaned.

"My satellite radio," David stated in his laid-back manner. "It goes back on the station I had it on before you changed it, remember?" After Trevor switched stations on the satellite receiver from the hard rock channel he had it on back to the chillout music channel (one of the channels David liked) and then got out of the car, David said to him as he and Kelly got in, "Thanks Trev, 'preciate it."

"Wow, it seems kinda hard to believe that Trevor's really your brother," Kelly remarked as she strapped on her seat belt after getting into the Trans-Am. "Was he adopted or something?"

"Nope, Trevor's the real deal," David said. "He's my brother, all right - or as I sometimes refer to him, 'the burr under my saddle'."

"To listen to him talk and act, he seems a lot like Reef in some ways," Kelly said.

"That's exactly why I don't think highly of Reef's bragging or his showing off," David explained while starting the car. "It reminds me a lot of Trevor."

"Ah, now it makes sense," Kelly said with a small laugh. "I think Fin'll be interested to hear that."

* * *

Just before arriving in Sunset Beach, David had Kelly put on a blindfold so that she would not see the surprise he had for her until he was ready to have her look. When David's car parked on Main Street in the downtown area upon arriving in town, Kelly asked, "Is it okay if I take the blindfold off yet, David?"

Seeing Kelly about to touch her blindfold to remove it, David stopped her by blocking her right hand. "Uh-uh, not yet," he said before he opened his door to get out of the car. "No peeking." David then walked around the front of the Trans-Am to the passenger side to open the door and let Kelly out, then he guided her a short way.

"C'mon David, now I'm really getting anxious to see," Kelly said. "Can I look now?"

"Just a couple more steps," David said before he stopped at a chosen spot, leading Kelly to do the same. "Okay, now you can take off your blindfold." When Kelly did so, she gasped with surprise at what she saw across the street - an Art Deco-style building with colorful neon lighting trim and the name "PARAMOUNT" in capitals, also in neon, above a marquee. Beside the movie theatre, as part of the same building, was a coffee house with the name "Cinema Brew" above the entrance. "So, what do you think?" David asked a moment later.

"Whoa, David, this looks...amazing," Kelly said when she checked out the building, which had been completed just a few days earlier.

"You should see it at night when the neon's all lit up," David said with a grin.

"_Hola_, compadres," the Kahuna called as he came through the front entrance beneath the theatre marquee. "Welcome to the new and improved Paramount Theatre. Come on in and I'll show you 'round the place."

"Wait a sec - 'improved'?" a puzzled Kelly wondered aloud. "How can this theatre be 'improved' when it looks like it's just been completed not long ago?"

"That's part of the surprise," David explained as he, Kelly and Kahuna went inside the theatre. "I bought the Big Wave Theatre last fall and had it renovated and expanded by building the Paramount around it. The original Big Wave's now Theatre Two in a five-screen complex."

"And 'Paramount' was also the name the Big Wave used to go by before I bought the place back in 2002," Kahuna added. "Changing it back was the bossman's idea."

"I went with it to pay tribute to its past while looking to the future," David said. "And thanks to the expansion, nobody'll have to go out of town to Courtenay or Campbell River anymore to see the newest movies when they can check them out here."

"_Ohhh_, that'll be great," Kelly said, sounding enthralled to be able to finally see the movies she wanted to see without leaving town. After checking out the Paramount's new, larger lobby with its twin box office and an expanded snack bar, Kelly went with David and Kahuna to look inside Theatre Two, the old Big Wave, and was amazed to see how different it looked from when she had last been in there to see a show last year, the night after Bummer's demotion from Surfer's Paradise day manager to assistant concierge.

"Is this really the old Big Wave?" Kelly asked as she looked around inside the auditorium.

"Believe it or not, it is," David said. "We had to remove the balcony and all the main floor seating when we gutted the inside to put stadium seating in during the renovations. You see where we're also standing right now, right between the screen and the first row? We're standing right where the original lobby and snack bar used to be when the main entrance was on Front Street."

"This all reminds me of the theatre I go to back home when I go out to the movies," Kelly pointed out, "right down to the neon ceiling lighting and the sidewall decorations they got in each auditorium, just like you have here. Are all the theatres here just like this?"

"Every one, even the smallest one, Theatre Five," David said while he, Kelly and Kahuna went back out into the lobby. "That one's also going to be the screen that shows the surfing movies Kahuna likes, right, Kahuna?"

"You bet, bossman," Kahuna confirmed. "Made that deal as part of the theatre sale. The surf movie diehards will be happy to see those movies come back when the Paramount opens on Friday."

"That reminds me," David then remembered. "Kelly, guess which movie I got to play here on Friday night to re-open the theatre?"

"What is it?" Kelly said, eager to know which movie it was based on the enthusiasm in David's voice.

"It's _Big Steel 2: The Annihilator's Revenge_," David said. "That's the new sci-fi action flick that's going to be the featured movie as part of the sci-fi convention this weekend. I got it booked for the biggest screen here, Theatre One, because I'm expecting there'll be a big crowd of convention guests coming to see it."

"Cool!" a pleased Kelly said when she heard the news. "I've been waiting for that movie since it was first announced three years ago after the first _Big Steel_ went over big. I know Fin's gonna want to see it too 'cause she told me she loved the first movie when it came out."

* * *

Later on after finishing their tour of the newly-expanded, completed and renamed Paramount Theatre and then grabbing lunch to go, Kelly and David returned to Surfer's Paradise. In the hotel lobby, David was finishing up speaking on his iPhone with the Paramount's concession supplier about a scheduled delivery of popcorn, nacho chips and cheese sauce, candies and soft drink syrup mixes to the theatre for stocking its snack bar in time for the theatre's re-opening on Friday when Kelly came to see him. "Still tying up some loose ends?" Kelly asked as she joined David on the lobby couch he was sitting on after he hung up.

"Pretty much," David confirmed. "I had to do the same for the Cinema Brew a couple of minutes ago."

"The Cinema Brew sounds like it'll be a good place to get coffee once it opens," Kelly said. "I even like how you have it set up."

"That's the beauty of it," David said. "You can access the coffee house from within the Paramount, but it's also got its own outside entrance to get in during the hours when the theatre's not open. I set it up that way for anyone who wants to get coffee, meals and treats before or after a movie, especially on the weekends when Cinema Brew's open to midnight."

"Sounds perfect," Kelly said with a smile, just before she checked the time at the front desk. "Well, I better get back to work," she then added. "See you later for supper?"

"It's a date," David said. "I'm off to the beach anyway. I've got a surfing lesson booked there with Fin - she's going to teach me how to do some advanced tricks on the waves. It'll give me a chance at the same time to tell her about my landing _Big Steel 2 _for the sci-fi convention."

"She'll be thrilled to hear that for sure," Kelly said before she returned to work at the Pirate Ship while David went to meet Fin at the hotel beach for his surfing lesson.

In the meantime, Sabrina, a reluctant volunteer to help put up the last of the lobby decorations for the convention, had seen Kelly and David return to the hotel and overheard David's phone conversations with the coffee house and theatre snack bar suppliers, as well as telling Kelly he would tell Fin about booking the convention's Friday night feature movie, when she noticed what looked like a cell phone on the lobby couch close by. Walking over to the couch, she noticed it was the same iPhone David had talked on earlier.

Figuring David had forgotten his phone when he left for the beach, Sabrina picked it up and turned it on to check its information on its settings menu first, then went to its address book menu and, while scrolling through the stored phone numbers, found a number with the caption "Film Exchange" above it.

_Hmm, interesting_, Sabrina thought to herself while looking at the number for the film exchange, which she concluded was the local distributor for the movies David was getting. Since she hated science fiction and had a low opinion of its fans, Sabrina saw her discovery as an opportunity. _Maybe I'll cook up a little something to give the geekfest guests fits and throw a monkey wrench into their little party_, she thought to herself with a sly look and an evil smirk.

* * *

**Whatever Sabrina has in mind next, you can guess it's not going to bode well for either the sci-fi convention or David's re-opening of the Big Wave/Paramount. See how she does it, as well as what happens when David runs into another hurdle with the theatre opening, up next.**


End file.
